Treasures of Malta

No. 87, Summer 2023, Vol. XXIX, No. 3

Ġorġ Borg’s The Archer on the cover of the latest issue of Treasures of Malta seems to be at the point of releasing her arrow at the reader; fortunately, the publication is more peaceful in nature. Its missiles, of a cultural nature, are aimed at our brains.

As usual, the editorial serves to announce the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’s recent achievements and the further goodies awaiting round the corner, like the In Search of the Line, which will be held in its new offices, and the long-expected new series of Histories of Malta by Giovanni Bonello, and other major publications.

Self-taught pioneering ceramist Gabriel Caruana (1929-2018) left behind a marvellous oeuvre so distinctively marked by his unique characteristic playful and colourful creativity.

Paul Sant Cassia looks at the work of a humble genuine artist who ‘followed his aesthetic intui­tion and transcended boundaries’. The artist, a master of form and colour, he says, ‘employed what the ancient Greeks called metis: magical cunning’. These qualities earned him the respect and admiration of his fellow artists, including several of international repute who had settled on the island. His achievement was also recognised beyond our shores.

In 1839, Amadeo Preziosi’s father sent him to France to study law but instead he enrolled at an art academy (was ever a better choice made?). He was to have a brilliant career, becoming famous especially for exotic drawings of Constantinople and Cairo. Rachel Abdilla analyses Preziosi in the context of Orientalism which, she explains, was a political as much as an aesthetic movement both in art and literature.

It is impossible to look at the views of Gozo by Henry Mayo Bateman (1887-1970) without feeling a mixture of sorrow and anger. He was lucky to experience the island when it had not yet started its suicidal race to reach the ‘standards’ of its larger sister island. Extremely well-known for his hundreds of cartoons in British publications, Bateman spent the last four years of his life in Gozo where he died. In all, he painted at least 21 scenes in oils and in watercolour. Sixteen of these charming pictures have been bought by Heritage Malta and will eventually be exhibited at the Gozo Museum.

Nicoline Sagona gives a delightful, concise insight into the man and his Gozo views, which are the more remarkable because there is not a single intruding tower crane!

I stand to be corrected but, in a country where we name streets after agricultural implements and cisterns and small-time party hacks, we have not found time to name a street after a great little local heroine: Henrietta Chevalier (1901-73).

Born in Sliema, she lived most of her life in Fascist Italy where, after the Germans took over Rome, she was instrumental in hiding Allied POWs, putting her life in daily jeopardy. Her actions indeed earned her glowing tri­butes. Ironically, the local authori­ties even denied her younger four children from accompanying her back to Malta after the war because they had been born abroad! Kim Dalli tells her story with its very sad ending.

In the third part of his military history of the island, Charles Debono writes about Malta under Angevin and Aragonese rule. The latter took control of Sicily, and hence of Malta, after the short-lived French rule was brought to an end following the Sicilian Vespers insurrection of 1282. The year after, a great battle was fought in the Grand Harbour with a crashing Aragonese victory. The Angevin garrison at the Castrum Maris held on for some months before Malta finally moved into the Aragonese sphere of influence.

Pioneering ceramist Gabriel Caruana (1929-2018) left behind a marvellous oeuvre so distinctively marked by his unique characteristic playful and colourful creativity

In a very readable account of this dark and complex period, Debono also explains the defensive arrangements, including the sites of the various watch posts around the islands.

Practically very little has been written on maritime swords in Malta. In a two-part contribution, Franco Davies and Mark Barton write about the variety of weapons used with the first part dealing with the Medieval and Hospitaller era. A future contribution will be dedicated with those weapons post-1798.

The authors admit that the known objects with maritime provenance is very limited, and posit that many weapons may have been carried away by the French. Yet it seems that, in this aspect, contemporary European trends were followed.

Roger De Gaetano discusses a rare sketch by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio (1547-1616), one of just three surviving sketches by the master. A pupil of Michelangelo’s, d’Aleccio is best known locally for the pictorial depiction of the Great Siege in the Throne Room of the Grandmaster’s Palace. The sketch, in red chalk on 16th-century cream paper, shows an allegory of Charity, one of the virtues that separate the scenes of the siege. On the verso of the sketch, other figures can be made out that can also be linked with the wall painting.

Lewis F. Mizzi, a celebrated constitutional lawyer who spent years working in Turkey and was a member of Strickland’s Constitutional Party, responded generously to the appeals made when the parish church of Paola was being built. He donated two intricate sepiolite and amber cigar holders which had allegedly been given to him by Sultan Mehmet VI.

As is so often the case locally, politics came in and Mizzi felt greatly disrespected when Ġużè Damato, the architect of the church and a Nationalist candidate on the district himself, decided to raffle one of the cigar holders. In a huff at this disrespect, Mizzi then decided to not to donate a ‘carillon tower’ and ‘a Rembrandt’ he had promised as well.

Simon Mercieca relates the entire story and makes a supposition as to what this ‘Rembrandt’ could have been and where it may have ended. For good measure, he also adds an interesting story of another ‘Rembrandt’ said to have been associated with the church of St Ubaldesca in the same town.

Giovanni Bonello writes about Anna Balzan’s favourite object, which is a double-sided vase known locally as Tal-Ġakbini. On one side there is the double-headed eagle, which could be part of the escutcheon of Grand Master Hompesch, and on the other the RF sigla of Republican France. One could choose to turn the vase round to please the political conviction of the visitor. One wonders why such a production line was discontinued!

Steven Mallia makes us aware of the fantastic architectural treasures that lie below our feet and which just a lucky handful of us will ever get the opportunity to see. He highlights the cathedral-sized reservoirs built by the British at Ta’ Qali and San Ġwann, wondrous achievements that deserve to be better admired and, one hopes, fully utilised.